Banknote loader

ABSTRACT

A method of loading banknotes to a banknote validator and dispenser system replaces the existing validator with a combination loader and validator. A stack of banknotes has been preloaded in the loader and are not accessible to the service technician. The loader is inserted into the system in place of the removed validator and forms an electrical connection with the system. Banknotes are fed from the loader and directed by the system to the appropriate accumulator and stored therein for later dispensing. The validator of the loader can be of high speed to reduce the loading time. Access to the stack of banknotes and access to banknotes stored in the accumulators is restricted and secure.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to the loading of banknotes into abanknote validator and dispenser or banknote transaction device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] A number of systems have been proposed where a banknote validatoris associated with at least one banknote accumulator and a dispensingarrangement. The systems provide effective money exchange and are oftenused in association with gaming machines, vending machines or otherbanknote transaction applications. The systems are particularlyadvantageous where the banknote transaction device recirculates at leastsome of the banknotes that are inserted therein. For example, a userinserts certain bills into the system for payment or credit and thevalidator confirms the bills are authentic. Any change includingbanknote change can be provided to him. The received banknotes can beconsidered for accumulation in banknote accumulators to allow forsubsequent use of the banknotes if required to provide change for othertransactions or payout in the case of gaming machines.

[0003] Many of these systems have at least two banknote accumulators foraccumulating currency of different denominations. For example, one ofthe accumulators can accumulate five dollar bills and anotheraccumulator can accumulate ten dollar bills. Typically, thedenominations being accumulated can be set.

[0004] Depending upon the particular application, the number ofbanknotes which are received by the device during normal transactionsand made available in one of the accumulators for change will not besufficient. For this reason, it may be necessary from time to time toload banknotes into the accumulator for later dispensing. The banknotetransaction device is typically mounted interior to a vending or gamingmachine cabinet with various ports in the cabinet panel to allow theinsertion of bills and to allow the return of bills to a user. Lockingarrangements are provided to prevent unauthorized access to the cabinetas well as to the operating components of the banknote transactiondevice. In a casino gaming environment, many of these devices arepresent and require ongoing service including loading of banknotes.Actual access to the banknotes by the service technician is notdesirable. Furthermore, rapid loading of banknotes to the accumulatorsis desirable to reduce the service time, however, the validating headassociated with the transaction device is often the limiting factor.

[0005] The present invention seeks to provide an effective solution forloading of banknotes to a validator accepting and dispensingarrangement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A method of loading a banknote accumulator according to thepresent invention utilizes the structure of the banknote accepting anddispensing device which the accumulator forms part thereof. The banknoteaccepting and dispensing device includes a banknote validator. Themethod comprises removing the banknote validator, inserting a banknoteloader into the space left by the banknote validator and forming anelectrical connection with the banknote accepting and dispensing device.The banknote loader includes a stack of banknotes to be loaded and anassociated banknote validator. The method further comprises operatingthe banknote loader to feed banknotes from the stack through theassociated banknote validator transporting the received banknotes in aserial manner to the banknote accumulator and receiving the banknotes inthe banknote accumulator.

[0007] According to an aspect of the invention, the banknote acceptingand dispensing device includes at least two banknote accumulators witheach banknote accumulator being selectively connected to a banknotetransport path of the banknote accepting and dispensing device by aswitching device. The method includes moving the switching device toselectively connect at least one of the banknote accumulators with thebanknote transport path to thereby receive banknotes in the selectedaccumulator.

[0008] In a further aspect of the invention, the associated validatordetermines denominations of the banknotes as the banknotes passtherethrough and the validator controls the switching device to directthe banknotes to the accumulator in accordance with the determineddenominations.

[0009] The present invention is also directed to a banknote loader andvalidator which are insertable within a banknote accepting anddispensing device in place of a removable banknote validator of thebanknote dispensing and accepting device. The loader includes a lockedhousing having a stack of banknotes therein, a feed arrangement forfeeding of the banknotes to the validating head and a validating headfor processing the banknotes and feeding the banknotes to the acceptingand dispensing device in the conventional manner. In this way, a stackof banknotes can be loaded into the banknote loader and validator in asecure environment, the housing locked and the locked loader andvalidator taken to a banknote dispensing and accepting device and loadedinto the device to charge a banknote accumulator.

[0010] In a preferred aspect of the invention, the validator of theloader is of a banknote processing speed greater than the banknoteprocessing speed of the removed validator such that the stack ofbanknotes can be fed to the accepting and dispensing device at a higherrate of feed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings,wherein:

[0012]FIG. 1 is a side elevational of a banknote accepting anddispensing device installed in a vending or gaming machine;

[0013]FIG. 2 is a side elevational view showing removal of thevalidating head of the device of FIG. 1;

[0014]FIG. 3 shows a banknote loader about to be inserted into thebanknote accepting and dispensing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] The banknote accepting and dispensing device 10 is typicallyinstalled in a vending or gaming machine and is located interior to thecabinet thereof. The accepting and dispensing device is used in anyapplication requiring the validation and storage of paper currency aspart of a financial transaction.

[0016]FIG. 1 shows a front panel 12 of a device such as a vendingmachine, gaming machine or banking station with the banknote acceptingand dispensing device 10 located behind the panel 12 with ports forallowing user access to the validating head as well as a cash dispensingoutlet. The banknote accepting and dispensing device 10 includes aremovable validator head 22 which is received and supported by the framechassis 24. Once the banknotes have been received by the validator andprocessed to confirm the authenticity, the banknotes are routed to anyof the banknote accumulators 26 or if the banknote has been determinedto be questionable, it is returned to the user through the banknotestacker and dispenser 28.

[0017] An authenticated banknote can also be transported to the banknotecassette 30 provided at the base of the device. Banknotes which arereceived by any of the banknote accumulator/dispensers 26 are availableto provide change to the user or as part of a machine payout or as partof a financial transaction. The banknotes are stored in a serial mannerin the accumulators 26 and are dispensed one-by-one from theaccumulators to the banknote stacker and dispenser 28 for return to theuser. In addition, the banknote accumulators can be used to temporarilystore banknotes inserted by users prior to the approval of the purchase.In this way, the banknote accumulators can return the original banknotesto the user in the event a decision to cancel the transaction isreceived.

[0018] During a normal vending operation the user insert banknotes intothe validator to receive credit for certain purchases and uponsuccessful completion of a transaction, the received banknotes areappropriately processed by the validator and dispenser. This processingcan include routing of the banknotes within the device to allow them tobe used for future transactions typically to allow later dispensing ofbanknotes for any overpayment or for a payout in the event that thedevice is installed in a gaming machine or for dispensing as part of abanking transaction. Each of the accumulators 26 is designed totypically receive in excess of 50 banknotes. Inevitably during thenormal use of the device, the accumulators will not be or remain fullyloaded and it is desirable to provide a simple arrangement for allowingthe owner of the device to load the accumulators for futuretransactions. Such loading of accumulators extends the time durationbetween service requirements. This time between service calls can beextended by increasing the capacity of the accumulators and/or thenumber of accumulators. The frequency of the loading operation will varydepending upon the particular application and may occur on a daily,weekly, or other schedule basis. The loading of accumulators hasparticular application in environments where there is a series of thesevalidator and dispensers such as a casino environment.

[0019] It is possible to manually feed banknotes into the validator 22for receipt in the appropriate accumulators 26. Unfortunately, thisarrangement requires a technician or service personnel to manually feedbanknotes into the validator 22 and presents a security risk andunnecessary downtime necessary for manually feeding the banknotes to thevalidator and dispenser.

[0020]FIG. 2 shows the banknote accepting and dispensing device with thevalidating head 22 being removed from the chassis 24. The modular designof the device allows this to occur and is typically accomplished byaccessing the device once of the cabinet panel has been unlocked. Thestandard validating head 22 is designed to provide efficient scanning ofbanknotes as a user feeds them into the device but there is someacceptable time period for the processing of each banknote. Thus thevalidator is designed to meet this requirement but it is not costeffective to significantly exceed this requirement. Once the validatinghead 22 is removed, the loader 36 shown in FIG. 3 can be inserted.

[0021] This loader includes a stack of banknotes 40 located within thehousing 41 with the housing including a lock 42 to restrict access tothe housing. The validating head 38 is of a high speed design to scanand authenticate the banknotes quickly due to a high speed processor.This higher banknote processing speed is cost effective in that theloader is used for many banknote accepting and dispensing devices andwill allow the rapid processing of the stacked banknotes 40. Thevalidating head 38 communicates with the accepting and dispensing device10 in the conventional manner, however it places the device in a loadingsequence. Typically the stack of banknotes 40 will be of a predetermineddenomination for loading into one of the accumulators 26. These stackedbanknotes can be placed in the loader in a secure environment andtypically the banknotes will have previously been authenticated. Thus,the probability of rejecting a banknote is relatively low.

[0022] Once the loader is fully inserted into the chassis 24 it connectswith the power supply of the device and operates in the conventionalmanner. The stacked banknotes are quickly fed in a serial manner throughthe validating head 38 and are routed to the particular accumulator.With this arrangement, the stack of banknotes 40 may be quicklytransferred to one of the accumulators and stored in a serial manner asopposed to being stacked on a drum. Once the banknotes 40 have beentransferred to the accepting and dispensing device 10, the loader 36 maybe removed and the original validating head 22 reinserted. The frontpanel of the device can then be closed and the accepting and dispensingdevice is now ready for normal use. The loader may then be returned tothe secure environment for receiving a fresh stack of banknotes to beloaded into a different banknote accepting and dispensing device.

[0023] It is also possible to include as part of the loader 36 a memorydevice which stores details of the loading of the banknotes to thedevice 10. In this way, when it is returned to the secure environmentthe memory may be checked and recorded for future reference. Similarlythe banknote accepting and dispensing apparatus can provide a signalwhich is stored in the loader confirming the details of the number ofbanknotes received therein and other transaction information. With thisarrangement, the technician does not have direct access to the banknotesin the accepting and dispensing device nor does he have direct access tothe stack of banknotes in the loader.

[0024] The loading operation has been described with respect to a singledenomination stacked banknotes but it is not limited to thisapplication. For example, it maybe desired to load two accumulators anda first portion of the stack could be fed to one accumulator and asecond portion could be fed to a second accumulator. The validator,based on the scanned denomination can direct the banknote to theappropriate accumulator but higher loading speeds are obtained by havingthe banknotes sorted.

[0025] This loading system has proven particularly effective forapplications where there are a number of accepting and dispensingdevices which require loading of banknotes on a regular basis. Theactual loading operation can be completed in a shorter time as theprocessor of the validator has a higher processing capacity. It can alsobe appreciated that there can be a number of different models orprocessing speeds of the accepting and dispensing devices and theloading operation is not contingent on the validator head of thoseparticular devices. The addition of a high speed validating head as partof the loader also enables the transfer of security informationregarding the loading process. The loader can also recognize andappropriately communicate with different models.

[0026] Although various preferred embodiments of the present inventionhave been described herein in detail, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, that variations may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appendedclaims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A method of loading abanknote accumulator associated with a banknote accepting and dispensingdevice having a banknote validator, said method comprising removing thebanknote validator, inserting a banknote loader into said banknotevalidator and forming an electrical connection therewith, said banknoteloader having a stack of banknotes to be loaded and an associatedbanknote validator, operating said banknote loader to feed banknotesfrom said stack through said associated banknote validator, transportingsaid received banknotes in a serial manner to said banknote accumulatorand receiving said banknotes in said banknote accumulator.
 2. A methodas claimed in claim 1 wherein said banknote accepting and dispensingdevice includes at least two banknote accumulators with each banknoteaccumulator selectively connected to a banknote transport path of saidbanknote accepting and dispensing device by a switching device, saidmethod including moving said switching device to selectively connect atleast one of said banknote accumulators with the banknote transport pathto thereby receive banknotes in said accumulator.
 3. A method as claimedin claim 2 wherein said associated validator determines denominations ofsaid banknotes as the banknotes pass therethrough and said validatorcontrols said switching device to direct said banknotes to saidaccumulators in accordance with said determined denominations.